Welcome to the 9th List of the Moment, the First Part –
A varied list here and one that I hope you’ll find some songs you can relate to. Songs old and others newer and others that relate further back to our youth or to our parent’s generation and then remind us then of our own growing up and become a part of our own personal history and thus, a part of us and are carried forward.
The list here spans several generations, so it will be interesting to hear all thoughts on this list for all of you who know these songs and if you don’t, as ever, if may be, or I think it is anyway, worth the time to download a few and check them out and I’ve stated my reasons why and I’m sure in the comments you’ll read the pros and the cons, since folk don’t seem to hold back here.
So, that said – here we go - the Ninth List of the Moment Part One…
"English Rose" by Paul Weller — Because I’m English, I’m biased. Because it’s live and the crowd goes crazy, real patriotism, love of one’s girlfriend and of one’s country, I’m going to assume this recording is from a British concert though I cannot find out where as this particular version is bootleg, though I tell you, all version of this song are excellent, though personally I prefer any live version of almost any artist’s songs. Real patriotism seems apparent here, which is sort of nice to see that our British men value their English roses. Awwww.
"I’m Not in Love" by 10 cc — This was a toss up between this and "The Things we Do for Love" (ooh, sneaky, I just slipped both into my List of the Moment by a mere mention two songs .) Back to it – who hasn’t been here? Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt (terrible joke, really but irresistible in this moment) (Menagez-vous votre americanismes…) If he’s not in love, he sure does a very convincing rendition of running down the list of things that everyone in love would do… the picture on the wall “just because” like everything else he does. Of course, that’s the whole point of the song though, right… For us to know he’s in love while he, of course, typically denies this and lies even to himself – or has us going or wants to. Why do I associate this with a past boyfriend or are most men like this about the early stages of love? I know even my own husband resisted those initial and visceral feelings and I don’t understand why. Why resist. Just fall backward. You will be caught.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Great list again that inspires memorories: Still have some 10cc albums, fan, your mentions good especially "Things We Do" which is perfect pop, so why is the relativey annoying "Life Is a Minestrone" going thru my head?
T-Rex--better song thru head: "Jeepster"!
Aimee Mann--huge fan, have a personally autographed CD (she says "I Love You")--waiting for the restraining order to be lifted. Since you later mention my God Costello, I will mention absolutely beautiful Mann/Costello song "Other End of Telescope" which is on Til Tuesday's second LP. Seek it out (also on later Costello)
2 - Steve
Wow, Sadi, nice list. Hmmm...where to begin...
I have a best of 10CC & Godley & Creme from 1987, liked stuff by both, especially the tunes you mentioned, "I'm Not In Love" is a five star song in my collection. Can't say I've ever denied being in love, so can't speak to the lyrics of the song, but I love the tune because it is just caked in atmosphere for lack of a more elegant way of putting it lol.
Re. patriotism, us Canadians severely lack that quality, at least as far as music goes, can't think of a single 'Canadian patriot' kind of contemporary song, though I must confess I find the Canadian music scene kinda boring, so there may be some out there I don't know of.
Re. Paul Weller, I should say I do have his hit singles "Peacock Suit", "Broken Stones", "You Do Something To Me", "Out Of The Sinking" & "Sunflower", though I much prefer his Style Council stuff.
I remember "Voices Carry" by Aimee's old group Til Tuesday. Not a bad tune.
Thanks for putting "She" on your list, Sadi, I do prefer the original because of course, Costello's voice is not that great and I found his version seemed a bit rushed, though I guess if it has to be in a movie it must be shorter, I suppose.
"Dancing In The Dark" is among the few Springsteen songs I really like, a fave of one of my sister's too.
Didn't know you were raised by your grandparents, Sadi, I was raised mostly in a single parent family and it was always great to be around my grandmother (who had been widowed in WW2).
Roy Orbison was a fave of my Dad's.
Anyway, interesting list, as always Sadi. Thanks so much.
3 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
Hey Steve -- Glad you like the list - i have to agree, i prefer the original version of She as well but had trouble finding it.. if you can find it... do post the link, that would be great 'cause i'd buy it as well...
As to Weller - i do like his STyle Council stuff a great deal (EVer Changing Moods and Long Hot Summer are two of my favorite all time songs) tho i think he's great solo and that the song Sweetpea is one of his best (tho i seem to have lost it these days... grrrr, the hazards of getting a new computer, ugh)...
Have to agree about Dancing in the Dark, tho I'm On Fire runs a close second, which i happen to love ... a great song and One Step Up and Two Steps Back is also pretty great...
Rob Orbison just rocks my world -- i've long loved him -- was he on my list or did you just intuit that? gosh i can't even remembe what i wrote...
Aimee Mann is just great and everything Alannis Morrisette wanted to be at that time in her life, tho i think she (Morisette has vastly improved ... that's just my opinon) --
10CC - nice to know all men don't deny being in love; i think that i have done this, so perhaps, likely, most likely in fact, i'm projecting my own stupid ways of being...
cheers as ever - so odd about the grandparents connection ... things get spooky here... sad about being widowed during WWII - we lost a great deal of our family in London during the German airraids. With one bomb they took out half our family... pretty awful and sad story.. this is not the place for it though...
rock on... s.
4 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
Gordon ~ just found YOUR comment after i saw Steves -- not sure why that happened... my email showed his first... weird how that happens. But anyway, Yes i will seek out that Costello you note. Do you know the song She and the original? the original is pretty amazing but perhapas i like it for sentimental reasons more than anything... that much would make sense... so what can i say...
Jeepster was on previous list so couldn't include on this list (repetive, redundant, etc etc but yes, i agree w/ you - a superior song which is why it made an earlier list... a much better song tho i like this one as well... totally different vibe...
Surprising diverse T-Rex i think -- aren't they connected to Mott the Hoople (pardon my feckin' ignorance and don't flame me here (whomever) - i believe they are/were but not positive...
5 - Steve
Sadi, Roy Orbison came up in your list re. Springsteen who had been on Orbison's last recorded concert before he died ("Black & White Night" I think) which was on TV again this week.
I loved those Style Council songs too Sadi, also, "You're The Best Thing" and "Speak Like A Child" and "It Didn't Matter".
"I'm On Fire" was great, also liked most of the "Born In The USA" album, plus a few others, "Human Touch", even the more recent "Lonesome Day" (which I don't have), "Born To Run" (Frankie Goes To Hollywood do a faithful version of that on their debut album), "Streets Of Philadelphia", and yes, "One Step Up" was good too, though I don't have that one either.
Not a huge fan of Alanis, though my niece is. I did like "Thank You" and maybe one of her more recent tunes that escapes me right now ("Uninvited" maybe??). But I don't have any of her stuff.
6 - Steve
Forgot to mention, the only original song I have of T. Rex is "20th Century Boy", but I do have covers of "Children of the Revolution" (by Gavin Friday & Bono from U2), and "Get It On" (by The Power Station).
7 - Steve
Sadi, sorry to hear about your family's loss in the WW2's airaids, my grandfather was in the engine room of a converted trawler when it was hit by a German U-Boat in the North Sea around 1941. No survivors. Just saw "The Chronicles Of Narnia" recently, that mentioned about the children being shipped off to the country to be with relatives or whoever would take them in to keep them away from the heavy bombing in London at the time. Tough days...but like you say, not the topic here.
8 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
thanks about my family steve -- they all worked in the same bell foundry when a bomb hit... it's pretty gruesome story... the only reason my grandfther survived was that he had just left to go home for lunch and hte others said they would meet him there...
9 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
oooohhh, we like the same Style Council songs... it didn't matter is a great song, and so is It Didn't Matter which i had forgotten about...
you also name some good Bruce songs... again, some others i had forgotten about... just not on my playlist at the moment.. which is, afterall, what this list is about.... ; )
Alanis - Some of her stuff can be pretty good. I wasn't slamming her b/c i think she can be pretty tough and i like Thank You as well - but i think for YOu Oughta Know, an anthem in its own right, just can't hold up to Voices Carry. Then again, maybe the comparison is moot and was never meant to be... you know... so it's a tough one...
10 - Steve
Sadi, you're welcome.
Did you end up buying that China Crisis album by the way??
11 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
i didn't get it get... tho i plan to. Do you remember the title...
and oh,
speaking or rather thinking, of music in that genre and of the time ( i take it your a GenXr ? oui?) what about The Fall-- do you remember them?
12 - Steve
The title you were looking for was..."Working With Fire & Steel".
Yes, I am a GenXer, 36 actually. The Fall...well, I only remember one of their rare UK hits from 1987 called "There's A Ghost In My House", but I must confess, though they were faves with the UK critics, I could never really get into them myself. Still recording apparently after almost 30 years, pretty amazing really. But I haven't heard anything of theirs in almost 20 years.
13 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
yeah, Steve , had you pegged, like me, by your musical taste, among other things... all good... :) .. I think the song you name must be the one i'm thinking of. They use one in the flm The Silence of The Lambs which is REALLY creepy - i think that must be the one, b/c i can't think of any other with a more applicable title.
I was never a big fan but did like that one song, if that is indeed it... They were a bit too goth for me and i was never goth. I was / am more Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music (God help me) but i just love Avalon, More Than This (possibly the most depressing song ever written of all time) and others by him/them. I even like Slave to Love (ugh, see... i'm really putting myself out there for you, lol).
Remember Duran Duran... i'm listening to Hungry Like A Wolf as we speak... i even remember the damn video and the haircut of the lead singer. I recall more than anyting thinking how sexy it was that his hair flopped over one of his eyes and how cool that was... gosh, how foolish and naive and how wonderful we are in our youth... you gotta love it.
I admit, for as much as i love my present and try to look forward, i am still nostalgic for those days; i only wish i knew then what i know now and that i appreciated them more and realized how quickly they would pass and took the time to drink of them deeply...
14 - Steve
Yes, I hear you about Goths, was never into that stuff much, though I did like a few Sister Of Mercy tunes at the time because they made me laugh so hard.
Didn't know there was any contemporary songs in Silence of the Lambs, though it's been about 15 years since I saw it.
I did love the "Avalon" album as well, perfect pop for me, liked some of Ferry's solo stuff that came after too, all those tunes you mentioned I loved.
Yes, I did enjoy Duran's stuff too, including that tune, I remember watching the video on a show called "Friday Night Videos" back in the 80's. I have a double disc of remixes of their hits called "Strange Behaviour" from 2000, as well as 7 of their 80's albums, they were unique for sure, their lyrics were a bit weird at times ("Union Of The Snake"????), but they had a harder, rock-edged pop sound than almost anyone else big at the time.
15 - Steve
By the way, what did you think of Duran Duran's comeback album from 2004, "Astronaut"?? I loved the singles from it.
Re. nostalgia, I had some fun times back then, but I was always Canadian at heart, never really felt at home until I came back here to live.
16 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
God, fifteen years since Silence of the Lambs - how scary is that..,. sheesh.. Avalon was and remains a great album. I never understood the title video with the falcon thing on his arm on the balcony and Jerry whathername (Mick Jagger's then wife) in the back ground but whatever - went straight over my head...)
You're right about Duran Duran's sound - they were unique for their time and harder too and they rocked. They were just a few steps or perhaps a step or two below Def Lepard (sp?) or The Tubes (who i also liked actually)... but Duran Duran were a great group. Whatever happend to them...
total non sequitor.. is Sting up to anything these days? I"ve been listenig to him singing in French (Ne Me Quitte Pas - great song, download it if you can... amazing, i promise)...
17 - Steve
Funny how you think of "More Than This" as a depressing song, I never think of it that way...shows you how little attention I pay to the lyrics huh? LOL.
18 - Steve
Sting's last album was 2003's "Sacred Love", which I have, some good tunes on there. I've got about 45 songs of his, mostly from his first 2 albums and his last one, plus a best of Sting & The Police. He generally releases albums of new material every 3 to 4 years, I wouldn't expect anything new from him till next year probably.
19 - Steve
I would say Def Leppard was more heavy metal, or maybe pop metal is the word, I liked their stuff at the time but am not a fan these days really. I only knew The Tubes from that one song I mentioned before - "She's A Beauty".
20 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
exactly -tirt Sting will do as he does, but he generally comes out with something worth waiting for, in my opinion anyway. I actually like and liked Desert Rose, and the commercial didn't turn me off of it -- i still like it, esp. the Arab Remix, which i think is excellent and has made this list in the past...
She's a Beauty by The Tubes (right?) is the one song i like in that genre - so we're in line here... that's the one i like as well... i remember being in Maryland ocean sity city with my brother and being on the fast rides on which they played rock n roll and them playing that song... perfect boardwalk music.... ya know...
you canadian?
21 - Steve
So, Sadi, when did you get to the US??
And yes, thought I'd mentioned that before, I am Canadian.
22 - Steve
Sadi, Here is a copy of my comment #12 or 13 from your List...volume 8:
"I'm in Canada, Sadi, for the first 4 years here after I was born, then 13 out of the next 14 in Scotland, been back here now for 19 years almost."
23 - Steve
Sadi, here is another one, my comment #36 from your List Volume 4 -
"Well, my story is a long one, ummm....the Cliff Notes' version is...lol...parents moved from Scotland to Canada around 1952, had me and my two sisters, then had marital troubles, moved back to Scotland (around 1973 actually I think) but ultimately separated a year later. Dad moved back to Canada, I stayed with my mother in Scotland. Around the age of 12, I decided I would stay until I finished my schooling in 1987, then came back to Canada to live, because I hated the climate over there, cold and damp most of the year!!! Lived in a fishing and oil rig town called Peterhead...if you're not into fishing or oil, I doubt you would have heard of it lol, about 20,000 pop. I think, back then anyway. It's about 30 miles from where Annie Lennox was born funnily enough!"
I hope this answers your questions regarding my origins anyway. I guess you are muti-tasking alot while posting your comments, huh?? No wonder it's difficult for you to keep track of everybody, being married with a family and all, lol. Anyway, always nice chatting with you, Sadi.
24 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
Steve - your life isn't so so different from my own apartment from teh Canada connection, i moved to New York from Great Britain; most of my family is still in scotland, but i spent most of my life in London in Northeast London in a small part called Tottenham and then Finsbury Park - both Northeast... But again, we all hail from Paisley, which is a small town.. sorry i forgot your details. i'm really bad at remembering things like this, esp. when overwhelmed as i've been lately with my book etc etc and other work that i need to do... I came to the states for university ~ it seemed like the best opportunity so my grandparents shipped me off here w/ my mother and so here i landed and here i've been. i'd like to move back to Europe, hopefully FRance at some point.
For now, i'll have to settle for going every year... that's as close as it will be for a while, i'm afraid. Things are just too rooted here.
ah well, c'est la vie...
cheers,
;)
s.
25 - Steve
I see, Sadi. No problem. I thought you must be a busy gal.
Never been to France, heard it's expensive there...would you say so, or is that just Paris??
Only ever visited London once about 20 years ago for a few days. Checked out the usual sites. It was nice, quite warm, in July, so much so in fact that our rental car overheated in the middle of downtown London traffic, yikes! Lucky the car rental place was just a few blocks away lol.
May go back to the Isles for a holiday one day, but right now, happy to be here.